Russian President Vladimir Putin Weighs In on Legitimacy of Crypto Assets

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin hasn’t made up his mind about crypto, according to a new interview with CNBC.

Putin says cryptocurrency “may be a unit of contact,” but notes that it’s too early to say whether oil contracts could be denominated in crypto instead of the US dollar.

Putin explains,

“To transfer money to some other place maybe, but it’s too early to talk about the trade of anything in sources of crypto. Cryptocurrencies are not supported by anything, yet. It may exist as a means of payment, but I think it’s too early to say about the oil trade in cryptocurrency and the trade in other primary energy sources.

Everything develops and has the right to exist – it may have the right to accumulate, we’ll see. But it’s too early to talk about it today.”

Despite crypto assets lacking the universal recognition associated with traditional assets, Putin does still think they have a “high value.”

“I believe that it has high value, but it cannot be used in oil trade. But in order to make cryptocurrency, it demands tons of energy. And so far we must use traditional hydrocarbons.”

In the wake of China’s ban on crypto trading last month, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said earlier this week that Russians will still be allowed to trade crypto assets. However, Russian citizens cannot use crypto wallets or spend crypto within the country.

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